Holidays get official opening today with downtown Youngstown festivities

Hundreds of families lined Federal Street’s sidewalks for the 2012 Youngstown Holiday Parade and Festival. Community members of all ages watched as floats, bands, fire trucks and Youngstown businesses shared in offering “Season’s Greetings.”

The event also was an opportunity for some residents to experience a revitalized downtown. Valerie Holcomb of Youngstown brought her two grandchildren Emma Holcomb, 6, and Tyler Holcomb, 2. While the children patiently waited to see Santa Claus wave to them, their grandmother recalled how she experienced the downtown holiday parade when she was a teenager. Holcomb said she could remember watching the event from the fifth-floor window of McKelvey’s department store. She said memories of the parade are an important reminder of why downtown is important to the city.

For more on the festivites and the lighting of the 30-foot blue spruce Christmas tree, read Sunday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.